Entries in Vegetarian
(107)

Now that the cold weather is here, it’s time to break out the comfort foods. Lasagna is most definitely a hearty comfort food, in my opinion. Since it’s fall and there is an abundance of squash in the grocery stores, why not try a seasonal spin on a classic? Pureed butternut squash makes a sweet yet savory, almost creamy sauce without any guilt! Poured over a traditional ricotta and spinach filled pasta roll-up and you’ve got a beautiful, seasonally appropriate, and delicious dish.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the squash and cook until soft. Drain, reserving about 1 cup of the water. Return the squash, along with 1/4 cup of the reserved water, to the pan and blend until smooth with an immersion blender. Add the oil to a skillet over medium-low heat. Saute the shallots and garlic until soft and golden, about 4-5 minutes. Add the butternut squash puree and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parmesan cheese, and thin the sauce out with additional reserved water, to your liking. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, then set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, ricotta, parmesan, egg, salt, and pepper. Lay the lasagna noodles out on a flat surface, making sure that they are dry. Take about 1/3 cup of the ricotta mixture and spread it evenly over each lasagna noodle. Carefully roll the noodle up and lay seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining noodles and filling. Ladle the remaining sauce over the top of each of the lasagna rolls, then top each roll with 1 tablespoon of the cheese blend. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until the cheese melts and becomes bubbly and golden brown.

Mexican food is my favorite. Generally, it's cheap, quick, and easy. While it isn't always healthy, it is always delicious. Perhaps this recipe isn't authentic compared to most cheese and sauce drenched recipes, but it's wrapped in a tortilla so to me, that puts these tacos in that category, and it's healthy too! Lentils replace the typical ground meat found in tacos, the wilted arugula offers a peppery bite, zucchini is always delicious, and the chipotle cream sauce gives these tacos the perfect amount of spice. These tacos were delicious, and they made a ton. We pretty much never have leftovers, but we are looking forward to eating these again tomorrow night!

To make the sauce, place the yogurt, chipotles and adobo, cilantro, and lime juice in a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil (I used part water and part vegetable broth I had in the fridge). Add the lentils and cook until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain if necessary, then add the arugula and stir to wilt. In a sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 15 seconds. Add the zucchini and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté until the zucchini becomes golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes. Warm the tortillas in a hot oven or in the microwave. Layer two tortillas on a plate, spoon the lentil and arugula mixture over the tortillas, followed by the zucchini. Drizzle with the chipotle cream sauce.

An organization that my father-in-law belongs to hosted a chicken BBQ on Sunday in a nearby park. Joel and I decided to take advantage of the break from rain and went for lunch, which left us wanting a very small dinner. I've been in a rut lately and haven't really felt like doing any grocery shopping, meal planning, or cooking, and that generally leads to us going out or eating junk. A quick browse through a few pages of Tastespotting changed all of that and left me craving this colorful salad. Aside from the time it took to roast the beets, the salad came together very quickly, with virtually no cooking involved. The colors in this salad were beautiful and flavors were amazing, too! I look forward to enjoying this again very soon!

Scrub and peel the beets. Toss them with olive oil and wrap them in foil. Roast them at 450 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or until fork tender. Set aside to cool. Place the greens in a bowl and toss with the other ingredients. Drizzle with vinaigrette dressing.

Another month has come and gone, and that means it's time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal day! This month, I was assigned to Fran's Favs, written by Fran, of course, who describes herself an "Italian Foodie" who seems to be winning the contest of who can collect the most cookbooks (she has over 300)! A mother of 4 grown children, Fran seems to have one of the coolest jobs around; she works with flavor scientists and technologists who develop flavors for food companies! If that isn't the best fit for a food blogger, I don't know what is! Anyway, as soon as I got the assignment this month, I went right to her blog and read it from beginning to end, just as I always do. I found many different recipes that I thought sounded great, but this one stuck out the most. Since Joel and I have been wanting to incorporate different grains into our diet, I figured it was a sign to give quinoa a try (again). See, me and quinoa got off to a rocky start. The first time I made it a few years ago, it was super mushy and kind of gross. The next time I made it a few months ago, it burned and stuck to the bottom of the pan, forcing us to go out for dinner. The third time, I made Joel do it, and I am convinced it wasn't cooked quite well enough because it was slightly crunchy. So, fourth time's a charm? Yes, it was! I cooked the quinoa according to package directions using chicken broth (I know that doesn't make it vegetarian, but you can substitute water or vegetable broth) and it turned out perfectly! I am officially a quinoa lover. After mixing these patties and pan frying them, the first batch came out perfectly. They had such a great flavor, and with the egg on top, it gave the quinoa patties a richness when the yolk broke. I enjoyed how quickly this meal came together, and how simple, yet delicious, it was! Thank you for sharing, Fran!

For Serving:Shaved Parmesan6 Poached Eggs (one for each patty)Salt and Pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, combine the quinoa, eggs, salt, chives, shallots, parmesan, and garlic. Stir to blend. Mix in the bread crumbs and stir gently until evenly incorporated. Form the mixture into six evenly sized patties, about 3-4 inches in diameter. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and swirl to coat. Add the patties to the pan so that they are not touching (it is best to do this in batches). Cook for about 4 minutes, or until the first side is lightly browned. Carefully flip the patties with a spatula and cook the second side until it is golden brown, about 3-4 more minutes. Repeat with remaining patties, using additional oil if needed.

To serve patties, top with shaved parmesan, a poached egg, and salt and pepper.

We love risotto and always look for new ways to enjoy it, so it's no surprise that I bookmarked this dish as soon as I saw it. Apparently so did my sister-in-law, because she made it as a side dish one night when we went over for dinner, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. So, a few weeks ago, I opened the recipe and made it as our main dish. It was every bit as delicious as I remembered. While it is somewhat time consuming to make risotto, it is also somewhat therapeutic to stand over the stove after a long day at work and stir it as it starts to come together. I don't know why, maybe I'm just crazy! One note: I've tagged this recipe as vegetarian because you can totally leave out the bacon and it would still be delicious, but bacon is so good, so we went with it!

In a bowl, combine the sweet potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and paprika, tossing well to coat. Spread the seasoned sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, tossing every 8-10 minutes. Remove and mash until pureed, then set aside. Meanwhile cook the bacon, if using. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the butter. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and cook for 2-3 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Increase the heat slightly and add the rice, stirring to coat. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times, until the rice is translucent and begins to toast. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the wine. Continue to stir while the rice absorbs the wine. When most of the wine has been absorbed, add about 1/3 of the vegetable broth. Continue to stir until the stock has been absorbed, then add another 1/3 of the stock. Continue the process until the final 1/3 of stock has been absorbed; about 25 minutes total. (*You may need to add additional stock if your risotto is still chewy, but 4 cups was perfect for us). Reduce the heat to low and stir in the sweet potato puree and parmesan cheese. To serve, place the risotto in a bowl and top with additional cheese, a sprinkling of herbs, and crumbled bacon, if desired.